Kathy Branzell of National Day of Prayer Teaches Us How to Pray in a Polarized Time

The division in America breaks my heart very much, so many have left God.

Kathy Branzell: Jesus Teaches Us How to Pray in a Polarized Time

America is in very bad shape……….I have said that one of the greatest failures of Christians is to carry out THE GREAT COMMISSION! We are paying a deep price for that failure. Too much preaching to the choir! Way too many high school pep rallies! Not enough mature Christians. The majority of the American Church lost the salt shaker and replaced it with the candy dish. The Prosperity Gospel is one of the worst things that has ever happened in history! So many Pastors have deviated from the Word of God.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. Matthew 5:13

One of my heroes of Faith Dr. Jim Denison reports:

Not everyone can give life to a child, serve in our military, or develop life-saving vaccines and therapies. But every Christian can offer every person we know the gift of eternal life. Here’s the problem: unlike treatments for COVID-19 and cancer, many in our culture do not believe they need what the gospel offers. According to LifeWay Research, only 54 percent of Americans believe hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever. This despite the fact that hell is mentioned twenty-three times in the New Testament, fifteen of these times by Jesus. The Bible describes it as the “punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7), “outer darkness” (Matthew 22:13), and permanent separation from God (Luke 16:26) as the “second death” (Revelation 20:14). Why, then, are so many Americans convinced that hell is not real? Because our culture believes the lie that biblical facts are a matter of personal opinion.

In the years just prior to my salvation experience and new life in Christ Jesus, Satanism was my “religion” of choice.  I was pursuing him, the evil one, to teach me things that I was so hastily seeking to know.  I desired him to fill my mind with knowledge to do supernatural things in one particular grave yard.  He was more than willing to oblige.

Satan’s greatest goal and achievement in man is mind control. If he can control your mind he has your body for action. It is all about lies, deceptions, and destruction. I am telling you this first of all as a warning, and the reason I am so set against any substance, be it alcohol or any mind altering drug, even some approved drugs.

When a substance has altered, or clouded my thinking, I have just opened the door to my mind and the demonic strolls in and takes charge.   (Some forms of music have this ability to control mind and emotion as well. Ask natives of superstitious cults in remote areas who have come out, what they would do to call out demons. It was music/drums/chanting and natural mind altering drugs).

 I have enough trouble keeping satanic influence out of my natural mind and emotions. I will not help him by numbing my mind from truth.

Secondly, to the believer, you need to understand that Satan does not need to possess your total body to control your life.  All he needs is to plant his thoughts, suggestions, temptations, lies and deceptions into your mind.  He then watches to see if you naively act on those things.  If he sees you are prone to believe or accept these influences as being truth for you in the moment, he will feed you with more.   Very soon, he is controlling your mind and you act accordingly, by your choosing.   You believe you are right in what you are thinking, speaking and acting.  Why do you think so many churches are struggling within their own membership?

When Jesus was incarnate, by choice because of His never ending love for you, He deliberately laid aside all the prerogatives of being God, and chose to be as we are.  All of His wisdom, strength, and determination came through the Spirit by prayer with the Father.

When the Spirit led Him into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting and prayer, the enemy approached Him in His physical weakness from hunger thinking He would be an easy target for his deceptive traps.  Satan thought that if the body was weak, so too the mind.  (Luke 4:1-13)

What the devil did not realize was that Jesus’ spirit and mind had been fully nourished and strengthened by every Word from God.  He answered each tempting challenge with the Father’s Word brought to mind by the Spirit to overcome the lies and false promises.

“Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region.” (Luke 4:13-14)

Notice that after Jesus’ baptism and being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness, but after a season of fasting and prayer, Jesus came back in the power of the Holy Spirit, which had defeated the evil one’s advances toward His mind.

American churches are so divided today because of fear, panic, anger, political fervor, and depression, all of which have weakened our spiritual concentration to recognize the onslaughts and deceptions of the evil one in our midst.   What is needful right now is for believers to fast and pray for extended periods; even fasting from media influences about the things that cloud our best judgments.

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”           (Phil. 2:5)

Church, take your mind into the silence of a wilderness journey led by the Spirit for a season of fasting and prayer, leaving behind all anxiousness and personal agendas.   Solitude; simply and powerfully, only you and the Spirit of God,  seeking together His face and you will find His agenda; follow that faithfully!

Church, Wake Up; Come Alive!    Pray On!